


old devil moon

by pistolgrip



Category: Granblue Fantasy (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, M/M, Werewolves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-01
Updated: 2018-11-01
Packaged: 2019-08-14 01:51:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,644
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16483802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pistolgrip/pseuds/pistolgrip
Summary: As exciting as it sounds to be leader of the town's protection group, Siete knows that nothingreallyhappens outside of the full moon. At least the Karm caravan comes around every few months to break the monotony.





	1. Chapter 1

"The caravan's in town again!" Funf cheers as she runs into Siete's workshop, jumping up and down. "Hurry up, get your things!"

"They're here every few months, you know?" Siete chuckles, but he puts down the weapons he's repairing and follows her back into the main house, hoisting her up onto his shoulders and gathering rupies and a rucksack. "I guess a few months is a long time when you're young."

"It's _forever,"_ she whines, tugging at his hair to get him to move faster. "If they're coming from Auguste Isles, they'll have more Crab-of-War shells, and I need them for potions before winter comes!"

The caravan consists of Erunes from the long-disbanded city of Karm. With no permanent lodging since their own small island fell to ruin, they transitioned to travelling around to sell and trade goods from across the skydom on a meticulous schedule, never staying in any one place for too long. The few days they spent in Siete's town were lively, many of the villagers coming out just to ask about the things they'd seen on other islands.

The one thing they were particularly tight-lipped about was anything related to their history and what had forced them to roam. People were always left to speculate for themselves when they returned home from the caravans later that day; they would tell them it was a shame that they wouldn't settle down somewhere and start a permanent base, since all that travelling couldn't have been all fun, but the Karm people would always shake their heads in apology and offer no further explanation.

They were otherwise amicable people, if a little reserved. It's with nothing but excitement that Funf pulls down the scarf that Siete had so meticulously wrapped around her neck to call out to the Karm clan, and he can feel her waving at everyone with one hand and smacking at his head with her other to get him to put her down on the ground. The two of them are always bright and early, and today is no exception; the caravans had barely stopped, many of the Erunes still setting up their stalls, but other earlybird townspeople are already talking with them as they prepare. Siete crouches and she jumps down off his shoulders, running off to a familiar caravan draped in purples and blacks, with the smell of woodfire smoke curling into his lungs and making a home there.

Funf has begun her ritual of looking at all of the new plants and herbs that have been brought in since the last time the caravans have come through, testing their weight and pursing her lips in concentration as she thinks of possible experiments. Letting her do what she does best, he opts to walk up to the side of the stall, ducks under one of the dark cloths draped over the top, and leans against the wooden frame. "How's my favourite apothecary?" he says, in a voice as sweet as the stall is gloomy, knowing it'll bother the Erune in the right amounts.

"If your daughter weren't here, I'd punish you for loitering." The Erune grumbles in a low voice underneath his mask.

"Ooh, punishment? Nice word choice. I'm not averse to it, Six, darling," Siete says, leaning in closer.

"I see the word 'shame' isn't in your dictionary," Six says with exasperation, and Siete can imagine him rolling his eyes behind the mask. Funf leans up with a handful of affinity seeds, and Six takes the opportunity to turn away from him, trying his best to keep up with her rapid fire questions.

The first time Siete saw the caravans arrive, all those years ago, one stall in particular had left a lasting impression on him—in the middle of all the other caravans, brightly coloured with musicians playing faintly as people bargained, was a stall shrouded in almost complete darkness. Siete felt as though if he'd stayed there for too long, the shadows would cling to his clothes, persistent like the smell of smoke.

There was another apothecary in the group, so rarely did people come to Six's, whose caravan was so imposing that most people would pretend it didn't exist—although the frequent appearance of Siete and Funf at his booth over time must have signalled to people that whatever dark energy they were sensing was mostly unfounded.

There were no such warnings on their first visit, but Funf had been unable to resist running straight towards in on her first visit to the caravans. As they approached, the person standing behind it seemed to form from the shadows the cloth cast on the stall, with a ghoulish mask and an all-black cape, arms crossed. He kept his eye on the figure while Funf bounced around happily, trying to match up the various plants to what she'd read in books and what she could sense from them.

The Erune at the stall had answered her questions in a short and curt manner, and Funf wasn't put off by it at all; in fact, she was so unperturbed by the shadowy figure that before Siete could say anything, she had trotted around the other side of the stall and got them to crouch down to meet her eyes, at which point she had promptly snatched off their mask and said, _Grandpa always told me to look someone in the eye when talking to them!_

The Erune under the mask had been so shocked that anyone would dare to get close enough to him to do that, let alone a _child,_ and Funf had paid no attention as he covered his face with his hands and stuttered up at Siete to _get her under control, please._

 _She's perfectly in control,_ Siete had said, trying to bite back a laugh at how stark the difference in his personality when his mask was gone. But he'd felt bad for the Erune and told Funf to give him his mask back, or else he'd never be able to answer questions.

 _He didn't even answer my first one!_ Funf pouted.

_Which was?_

_His name!_

The Erune had put his head in his hands, eyes peeking out from between his fingers. _If I tell her,_ his voice pinched and in a higher register, _will she leave?_

 _She'll probably just get more attached,_ Siete laughed.

Weighing his options, the Erune sighed shakily, and said—

"Six," Funf says, breaking Siete from his daydreaming. She's holding a small glass imbued with cold magic, keeping a set of leaves icy and brittle. "How much for these?"

"You have to be careful with those. They break easily."

Funf huffs. "I _know_ that. How much?"

"Ten thousand rupies." At the matching offended looks on Siete and Funf's faces, he scoffs. "Silverwind Stretch is a difficult place to traverse, and the folioles require careful preparation to ensure that they do not break."

She puts the glass in her small basket, and Siete sighs. He knows most of his rupies are going to this stall compared to any other, and he doesn't mind per se, but it doesn't stop him from wincing when she hands the basket over to Six and he starts making calculations.

"How many days you guys staying this time?" Siete asks, as Funf takes her basket—fully paid for—and runs off to other caravans.

"Almost a week." Six doesn't sound too happy about it, and Siete frowns in sympathy, knowing that the Karm caravans want to be in constant motion. "The winds are strong, as if winter were growing impatient in its cage. We would be unable to make it to the next island if we were to set off now."

"Huh. That's unfortunate. Well, we love you guys around these parts anyway, so don't feel like you're imposing. You've always got a place to stay." Siete winks at him, smiling at the little displeased noise Six makes. Putting his hands in his pockets, he walks away, but Six coughs before he gets too far, an action clearly meant to get his attention.

"Siete, wait." Siete turns around and watches him duck underneath the stall, followed by the light sound of glass tinkling. After some time, he reappears with a small pot, slightly larger than his hand. "...Give this to Funf for me."

He can't stop the smile that grows across his face. "Why didn't you give it to her yourself?"

"...I forgot." It sounds like a poor excuse, and Six knows it, his hesitation speaking for itself.

"You're a bad actor, you know? But I guess I can do that for you, if you _really_ want." Siete takes the small pot carefully from his hands. Six then hands him a slip of paper; unfolding it reveals a set of instructions, written in a clean, small print, no smudges of ink across the letters.

"For the care of the plant. Rumours say the plant comes from another skydom. I've tested it in meditation mixtures and it intensifies focus. Be careful about dosage."

"Oh, man, she'll love this. Thanks," he says, holding the plant with even more care. "And when you guys close up for the night, come find me. Lemme pay you back—seriously, this is nuts."

Six sighs, but he says, "I may take you up on that offer," and Siete grins while walking away.

* * *

Siete is one of the Eternals, the protectors of the city that specialized in the supernatural and otherwise magic occurrences. There were originally eight of them before one had disappeared to the skies, leaving his young granddaughter behind.

However, Okto had left her far from helpless. Funf had given Siete a significant amount of trouble when he'd tried to find her to deliver the news of Okto's disappearance, attacking him suddenly for stepping foot on the property.

After she heard the news and mourned, she'd quickly grown attached to Siete and the rest of the Eternals, a feeling that was mutual. Siete stayed with her most of the time, although the group had rotating shifts of which of the seven of them would stay with her.

She lived further into the woods than the rest of them, where there was ample room for Okto's training and her own. Born as an anomaly, she had access to an immense store of innate magic, and her training with the Eternals honed her growing proficiency with medicines and revival magic. In return, their protective wards around the town had grown stronger when Funf taught them the magical properties of materials from outside the borders of the city to the deep forest.

The forests of Lumacie were rich with history, and there was an unspoken agreement that they were to be left alone in order to remain in favour with Yggdrasil. No one did more than stay a few days in the wilderness, making haste when their travels brought them through the forests, and people only settled in whatever was already open. But given enough time, stories started to surround the forests, legends that had been passed for decades.

Siete thought of them as Funf decided one day to bring him to the edge of the forests. He'd seen many of the forest's horrors firsthand—the town was peaceful enough that the Eternals didn't have _that_ much to do other than on full moons, the one night where monsters would appear from nowhere and seek out any sign of civilization to prey on. It was still enough of an ordeal that they hadn't disbanded after all these years, and suspicious enough timing that people would start speculating about the appearance of things even more ghastly, wolves greater than the largest man they could think of, walking on two legs with enormous claws and only existing to destroy.

His own experience with full moons meant that he'd had to tell people over and over that the moon played tricks on everyone's eyesight. The power of the moonlight was enough to cause an unnatural surge in monster appearances—and besides, he had seen things that, under the confusion of the full moon, match that description, _and_ they've taken them down easily.

He told Funf of the things he had seen on full moon hunts, and all of the speculation of what could have caused the increase in activity during that time, and she rolled her eyes at all of the cryptids he'd tried to scare her with. _That's a load'a baloney._

 _Sure is,_ he'd said, _Even then, if you wanna gather things from the forest, make sure to tell us first so someone can come with you, okay?_

Funf huffed, but she had agreed.

Under Siete's protection, she'd been able to venture further into the forests than before, and the things she'd gathered that day had only increased her hunger for learning. The caravans were perfect for her, stocked full with items from across the skydom with both magical and non-magical properties. Siete didn't receive _that_ many rupies from his services to the town, but it was worth it to see Funf break into smiles again—something that was easier and easier to coax out of her since Okto's disappearance.

Things had quieted down since then, almost as if a god in a far off land where they had been stationed was finally sated. The seven of them (eight, if Funf wanted to be included) had been cautiously optimistic that whatever string of minor magical inconveniences had been mostly handled, especially if the Karm caravans were in town. No good having any of that while they have guests.

"I don't want anything bad to happen," Siete says, chewing around his food, "but it feels like the calm before the storm, y'know?" Late at night, when Funf's gone to bed and most people are either eating elsewhere or sleeping, Siete sits in a restaurant with Six, catching him up on the town's happenings and Funf's status since he's been gone. The place is quiet, only a few others taking their time with their own meals, and Six is comfortable enough to have only half his mask on as they sit in a deserted corner booth and share a meal.

"After all this time, it sounds to me like you don't do much of anything," Six muses, "A title with no substance." The small quirk of his mouth when he makes fun of Siete disappears as he puts another spoonful of food in his mouth, but even the hint of his amusement makes Siete's smile grow fond, as much as he tries not to let it show.

"You're only here for a few days at a time, anyway. Come stay and find out why everyone relies on me," Siete winks, and Six's one visible eye rolls. "I've got room at my place."

"Funf is there."

"Hey, what do you think we're gonna do while you're there? It's a G-rated house."

Six frowns, questioning. "'G'?"

"G for 'great'," Siete grins, "since I live there."

Sighing, Six looks down at his plate, cutting into his food and spearing it with his fork. "You know it's not within Karm customs to stay anywhere for too long. The caravans are our way of life."

Siete watches him carefully as he says, "It hasn't always been that way, has it?" Six's eyebrow furrows for a brief second, ears flicking in annoyance when a particularly hard stab scrapes the fork against the plate.

"I suppose you consider yourself an expert now on Karm history now that we've grown closer and have had more conversations." His voice drips with venom, and Siete raises his eyebrows. He knows it's an age-old question that the Karm people run into constantly, and Six _is_ right; it had been overly optimistic for Siete to expect Six to open up to him.

"No—ah, I was joking around. Don't worry about it," he says, raising his hands, "I can go back to making blatant passes at you again without mentioning Karm."

Six frowns at him, and Siete keeps his stance open, letting Six read him. After some time, Six closes his eyes, tilting his head away. "Lesser of two evils."

"Alright, handsome," Siete says with no hesitation, and laughs when Six's face scrunches in embarrassment.

Siete walks back with him to the caravans, where the other Karm people are putting out their fires and crawling into tents, getting ready to sleep.

It took a while for Six to warm up to him—it took him a long time to warm up to _anyone,_ but Siete's sure it would have taken longer if it wasn't so hard to be rude to and around Funf. Six accepting his dinner invitations these days took just under three years of communication that could only happen every few months, and even then he didn't stay around for long.

Six is a prickly guy, always unintentionally turning away customers with short answers and a low grumbling voice that made everything sound like a threat. But with Funf around, he'd seen Six drop his mask—both literally and figuratively—and Six had, eventually, accepted his company. He'd always bring back things for Funf after seeing the things that she managed to concoct together using the materials she'd bought the same day, his mask not completely able to shield his genuine interest in Funf's experiments.

Siete didn't know why Six had taken such a liking to her, but talking to enough of the other caravan members revealed to him, bit by bit, that Six had his own innate magic with him. Certainly nothing as strong as Funf's pure unfettered pool of magic, his was finely controlled, specializing in curse protections and detection. His power seemed to be the opposite of Funf's, but judging by the way the others in the Karm caravan would treat him, Siete had the feeling that he and Funf might have had similar experiences growing up.

His relationship with the rest of the caravan didn't seem to have changed over the years that Siete had seen them. They weren't unfriendly, but the tent Siete dropped him off at was notably away from everyone else's, small and only made for one person. "How are we supposed to fit in here together?" Siete jokes.

Six pokes his head out of the tent to frown. He always seems to take things seriously, and it adds to the fun of joking around with him. "By you not coming in." He closes the tent up, and as Siete walks away, he hears him say, "Thank you for dinner."

* * *

"Winter's coming back around," Esser says, when the Eternals meet up the next day. "Certain things are hibernating for the winter. Others are coming out."

"It'll be a harsh winter this time around," Nio hums. "I can feel it singing on the northeasterly winds. They'll come fast, and they'll linger before they're due and after they are meant to take their leave."

Song sighs, looking dejected as her eyes fall over the charts of projected weather patterns that the group prepared for the next week. "If snow comes again this year, I'll be a little weaker. The sun reflecting off the snow always disturbs my range of vision."

"Still, there hasn't been a lot lately, has there?" Siete leans back in his chair, tapping his finger on the table. "Not to look a gift horse in the mouth or anything, but it really seems like our monster numbers have gone down in the recent years. Full moons aren't as hard as they used to be."

Sarasa yawns. "I ain't seen anythin', and you guys know I practically live out there when I can. Nothin' huge, at least. Just the usual eyeshrooms. I can kill those in my sleep."

Nio continues to look troubled as she speaks up. "Regardless, something doesn't sit right with this coming winter. Everyone stay on guard. There may be hardships we have yet to encounter."

Scoffing, Quatre says, "What, like the _werewolves?"_

"Perhaps," she says, giving him a look. "I'd be wary of anything. Siete, how much longer is the Karm caravan staying?"

"Two more days," he says, distractedly, still scanning the weather patterns. "Though they may be more in tune with the weather than we are, at any rate. Last I checked, some of the stalls were already packing up and preparing to leave. They must sense it on the horizon as well."

Uno nods. "When you see them later, ask them if they require any assistance in transport."

"I was thinking to ask them if they wanted to stay—if not for the winter, then at least until the impending storm tides over."

Humming, Song asks, "Don't they always turn us down?"

 _"Six_ turns _Siete_ down," Quatre says under his breath. "Like every one of his attempts."

"Not true," Siete says, absentmindedly, "I went to dinner with Six last night." Normally, that would be followed up with a comment from the rest of the group, but all of them are preoccupied with the chart in front of them. All of them can see the impending storm on the edge of the island, its angry trajectory striking right for the heart of Lumacie. "But seriously, I'll ask the Karm elders. They always seem to be in a hurry to leave no matter what. Find out if they have a contingency plan, though something tells me they don't have one that isn't 'leave as soon as possible'."

They disband, and the chill snakes around Siete the second he leaves their meeting place, constricting around his throat. He was thinking about grabbing breakfast for everyone at the Karm caravan before he went there, but the cold makes everything feel more urgent, so he hurries there instead, hoping the motion will keep him warm.

By the time he gets to the caravans, everyone's set up for the day. He approaches one of the larger stalls without any customers, manned by someone he recognizes as an elder. "Don't mean to intrude," he starts, "but it's looking like we're getting bad weather soon. Are you still planning to leave in two days? We're more than happy to provide lodging, should things prove difficult."

The elder gets an expression on his face that Siete can't parse; it's a look heavy with history and unspoken meaning, and then he blinks, and the elder is looking at him once again, an unassuming smile on his face. "Thank you, but we have already made plans to leave. We shouldn't intrude any further."

"Intrude, schmintrude," Siete says, waving a hand. "You do a lot to our town. Boost the economy, offer rare goods and all that. The least we could do is house you for a few days."

"We insist," the elder says, lowering his head slightly. "It is simply our way of life."

Something doesn't sit right with Siete, and normally he'd pry, but it's a grey area with the Karm Erunes, and he rather likes them. He rarely ignores his gut feelings, but there's only so much he can do before _he's_ the one intruding on a way of life he's personally never lived. Swallowing the doubt down, he salutes and says, "You know where to find us. We're always willing to help."

The elder smiles up at him, and his expression remains in Siete's mind as he walks away.

 


	2. Chapter 2

The Karm caravan leaves without incident, the storm striking soon after, as if laying in wait for their departure. For a few weeks, Siete keeps an eye out for anything out of the ordinary from around the skydom about the caravan, but they seem to have made it to their next destination safely.

And, Nio's predictions were correct; the winter comes, fast and sudden, and snow is followed by abnormal heat, making everything melt and freeze. Buildings fall apart, roads need to be maintenanced, and after a while Siete simply trusts that the caravan can find their way. His attention needs to be turned back locally, where there are repairs to be made within the town.

(They've been like that for years, Siete reasons with himself. There's no need to worry about them. But every few days, when the protection group have their meetings again, he watches the weather carefully.)

The caravans follow a strict schedule, one that comes out well ahead of time so every place they visit can prepare. When they're due back in town during the dead of winter, they're a few days later than expected, and their numbers have dwindled.

The Karm caravan travels in any season, any time, and they've never been late until now. The winter has never been this harsh, and to their dismay, an ice storm wreaks the island the first day they're stopped in town, many of the trees falling under the weight of the ice frozen to the branches.

It blocks off their path to the next larger town, but they insist on moving on according to schedule. Everyone seems more frantic than usual; sales are normally slower during the wintertime to begin with, and this time they aren't helped by the unmistakable panic that lines their practiced smiles.

Funf insists on seeing Six, but when they approach his stall, it's closed. Siete tries to tell her that everything is okay, sensing the panic in her actions; she reluctantly agrees to accompany him to buy hot food for the Karm caravans and convince them once again to stay in town. There's another bad storm due, and with the aftermath of ice storms blocking their only way out of town, Siete sees no other way but for them to stay here and ride out the worst of the winter.

He'd planned out all of the people he'd have to talk to in order to make arrangements for the Karm caravaners, but even when he delivers the food and tells them his plans, they all turn him down. They all get the same look on their face and their smiles become strained, citing a way of life, not wanting to impose.

He's refrained from asking this the entire time, but at the last Erune he drops food off for, the one that's normally positioned right next to Six, he asks where he is.

"He's helping the elders prepare to move," the Erune says. She shifts slightly, and the tight line of her forced amicable smile makes Siete think she's lying.

"Could he come say hi to us for a few seconds?" He puts on his best smile and Funf, sensing what he's doing, grins up at her too.

She looks conflicted, but she must recognize them as one of the only people to regularly visit Six and look happy about it, because she eventually decides on turning around and jogging towards the tents they have set up further behind the caravans. Not long after, Six comes out, and even though his mask covers his face completely, Siete can tell he's unhappy.

"This better be important," he growls, in the voice that tells Siete he's trying his best to sound irritated to keep others at arms length because there's something bothering him instead. "We're—"

"Leaving, I know, I know—why don't you just _stay?"_ Siete says, not beating around the bush. There's no use when he's talking to Six. "We have the space. People are always accommodating here for you guys, you do so much for us. You don't always have to travel—"

"How would _you_ know how things should and shouldn't be?" Six is angry—not annoyed or irritated, but _angry_. It takes Siete aback, and Funf tightens her grip around his hand. When he looks down at her, her face is twisted with sadness, tears on the verge of coming out.

Siete crouches down to look at her, but before she starts crying, she says, "We're trying to help, but I dunno what to do! I haven't even told anyone!"

The regret in Six's posture is palpable, and his hands move uselessly before he crosses them. His voice is guarded, but it's tired, like the weight on his shoulders that was briefly lifted by her words was dropped unceremoniously to where it once was. "There's nothing that can be done for us. Your worrying wastes energy." Six walks away, more reserved than before, and Siete looks between his retreating back and Funf's crying face.

There's so much about Funf's power that Siete doesn't understand, and the only person that could have possibly understood is long gone, most likely dead. Funf herself doesn't even know the extent of her powers, but there's _something_ that she senses with Six—with the Karm caravan, following her own wording, that she can't tell anyone.

He tries to calm her down; when the other girl comes back to her stall, she too tries to placate Funf, but she's inconsolable, and so Siete picks her up and takes her back home, preparing her tea.

When her sniffles have died down, he asks her, "Are the Karm people okay?"

"No," she says, and then takes a sip of tea. "They're in pain. They're always in pain."

He frowns. "Why won't they stay?"

She looks up at him sadly. "They can't. They have to keep moving."

"Then what do we do?"

"We help them leave."

* * *

None of the Eternals respond too well to Siete calling an emergency meeting during planned town repairs only to tell them that it was imperative that they clear out the fallen trees blocking the only roads in and out of town, _now_ _._ "Our resources are already stretched thin," Uno says, fighting to keep the strain out of his voice. "Unfortunately, there's nothing we can do about helping others leave when we can barely keep the ones we have in town safe. It shouldn't be more than a day."

He'd expected the response, and truth be told, he was inclined to agree. After all, they had an easy enough solution that the Karm caravan wouldn't accept for whatever reason, and there wasn't much in the way of sympathy if they decided against staying with the rest of the town for a few extra days. But Funf's pleading, her desperation to do _anything_ for the Karm people, Six's own anger had struck a chord with him.

Siete is busy for the rest of the afternoon, helping with town restoration like discussed in the meeting, but as _soon_ as he's done. As soon as he's done, he thinks, he'll go right to the blockage and take it apart with his bare hands.

At some point, he turns to ask Funf whether that's okay, but she's disappeared. It's not out of the ordinary during times of strife; all of the Eternals have different ways of helping people, and Funf will normally be healing others with Nio while Siete works on more labour-intensive rebuilding. So he continues working, trying not to let the disappearance worry him.

When he drops by the clinic later, Funf isn't there.

 _That's alright,_ he thinks. _She'll be around._ She's more than self-sufficient, and even with that, Nio is normally in the clinic with her. If not at the clinic, then probably with the twins; Quatre and Esser are stationed on clean-up duty today as well, so they're most likely together.

When the early evening comes, she still hasn't returned to find him. It's been a long day, the weather freezing ice over the cobblestone of the main square, and Funf is _surely_ hungry by now, so he wants to find her before it gets too dark. It's a full moon tonight, and one of the longest nights of the season, and he needs to hurry if he wants to make it to the blockage on the road under more than the moonlight while making sure Funf is safe for the night.

Exiting the clinic to the cold sting of winter, he's stopped in his tracks as Funf skids on the ice and crashes into him, grabbing his hand. Before he can ask if she's okay, she runs towards the direction of their house. He picks her up and starts sprinting, because under the light of the rising full moon, something feels _wrong,_ and he gets the feeling that things are about to be thrown off-balance.

He looks down at his hand, the one that Funf grabbed, sticky with fresh blood.

When they get to the house, he puts her down, and she immediately runs around the house to put her medicines and spellcasting materials inside a bag. He's not sure what to expect, and judging by some of the rarer materials that Funf is packing, he can't ask, at risk of interrupting her focus. He takes his armour, more of his weapons, and is interrupted by a knock on the door.

He opens it with his armour only halfway on, and on his doorstep are four or five villagers looking panicked. "Trouble," one of them says, and he hurries his actions. Funf begins putting her boots on, and they try to stop her. "It's not safe," one of them says, and that alone makes Siete annoyed enough to run back into the closet to grab her coat, pick her up, and put her on his shoulders.

"If someone's hurt, she's coming."

"It's not safe when there are werewolves!" one of the villagers says, but Siete and Funf are already on their way, running through the crowd and making their way to the town square.

They give up on trying to get Siete not to take her; all of them know it's better to have him than not, and as Siete runs ahead of the group, Funf tugs at his hair and tries to whisper. "Siete, this is wrong."

Her breath rises up into the air. It's a cold night, and the streets are icy, the fragility of the moment threatening to shatter with one misstep. "I know, I feel it too. This is the disturbance Nio was talking about."

"No," Funf says, frustrated. Siete jogs for a few moments in silence, and then she continues. "They've always been here."

"'They'?"

"The caravans, dummy! The people from Karm!" When Siete doesn't react the way she wants him to, she says, "The _werewolves!"_

He opens his mouth to ask more questions, but he gives her words more thought—Six's reluctance in talking about Karm history, the constant need to be on the move, especially around full moons, their haste in leaving the town despite their road being blocked by the fallen trees from ice storms—and he thinks, _oh._ "Oh. How did you—"

"They feel like ancient magic," she says quietly. "Ancient and dark magic. It's a curse. They didn't want this."

 _Of course they don't,_ he thinks. _They're constantly moving, trying not to be found out and be seen in case they transform._ "I know, Funf. I know."

More streetlights flicker to life as they run down to town square, the moon rising higher. In the middle of the main plaza sits a rusty cage, and the sight of it makes Siete run faster, not slowing until they reach the centre. The werewolf inside would be almost a foot taller than him—all he has are guesses, because it's currently curled in on itself, blood matting its fur.

Funf lets out a scream, and one of the villagers comes up to try and grab her by the hand. "Siete, what the _hell_ are you doing?!" He says in disbelief, Funf smacking at the arm holding her.

"Let go of her," Siete snarls, looking back at the cage. The werewolf's silver-grey fur is tangled, dull instead of reflecting the moonlight; the golden forehead piece is scratched up and similarly covered in blood. "Who has the keys?" he shouts, turning around to look at the crowd that's now gone silent.

One of the villagers shouts, "Are you out of your fucking mind? _Kill_ it, before it kills anything else!"

"He didn't kill anything that wasn't bad!" Funf yells, through her tears and taking her hastily-packed backpack. She puts to mortar and pestle a few ingredients, until they rise up into the air with a thick scent of mint, crisp as the winter air, and she turns around to look back at Siete. "I don't want him to die!"

"He won't," he mutters under his breath, making sure no one else hears.

The rest of the Eternals arrive at that moment, pushing through the crowd and heading straight for the cage. Song's equipped with silver tipped arrows, and Esser is loading silver bullets into her gun, but the group walks up with wary looks on their faces. The first thing Nio says is "this doesn't feel right," looking down at the cage.

From where he's crouching down text to Funf, Siete says to her, "Funf knows what's going on, but it doesn't seem like this crowd's gonna hear it—"

"Check out this big boy!" Sarasa says, crouching down in front of the cage, in front of Six's snout. She looks in awe and coos, "he's a real monster of a guy, aren't you!" At the word _monster_ , Six's demeanour changes; his eyes harden and despite the state of injury he's in, he sits up and stares straight at Sarasa. He growls, but doesn't attack, and she says, "When we killing him?"

"We are _not,"_ Siete stresses, quickly enough that Funf doesn't start crying again. "Listen to me—can you run crowd control? _Please?"_

"What's taking so long?" one of the crowd members yells, and the silence that had fallen over the townspeople now rises again with enthusiasm, some of the yelling bordering on pure mania.

"We might as well do tests while we're here," Siete shouts, "we haven't seen a werewolf in decades—why would we not take this opportunity to find out their weakness?"

The crowd debates this among themselves, and then he crouches down to Funf's level. "Listen. Stay out here with the others. I'll go into the cage and heal him, just tell me what to do."

She looks ready to protest, but realizes the gravity of the situation and gives him everything she'd prepared. "This one's for his injuries," she says, handing him a small velvet bag of the mint powder from earlier. "This one's for if it really hurts." Here, she hands him a small box with pellets, smelling faintly of citrus fruit. "And this. ‘Cause he said it was his favourite once." She takes out a cardboard box from their fridge that he recognizes as coming from the nearby bakery. Opening it up, he finds a pastry drizzled with chocolate and some fruits on the side. "He said he hadn't had it in a while. But I dunno if his taste buds'll be the same as a wolf..."

"He'll love it, I'm sure." He pats Funf on the head and stands back up.

Quatre hands him the keys from one of the villagers and Siete works on unlocking the cage. The adrenaline keeps his blood boiling hot, even though he feels the pads of his fingers start to stick to the metal bars when he presses against them for too long. Leaning against the cage, looking at the crowd and the members of the town protection group trying to placate them, he mutters, "It fuckin' reeks of misunderstanding tonight."

"Tell me about it." He creaks the cage open and Six's head whips around to look at him, baring his teeth and backing up as far as he can in the cage. Siete has to hunch in order to get into the cage properly. "Hey, Six," he says, as casually as he can, and Six growls and swipes at him.

Suddenly, the Eternals are yelling, and the cage is locked behind him by one of the villagers. Another one picks Funf up and runs back into the crowd, and a look of anger so fierce flashes in Six's eyes when he notices that he slams his body against the cage and rocks against it, trying to free both of them.

It's not hard for the others to escape the grasps of the angry villagers—if they were any weaker, they wouldn't be leading the group—but they can't grab the keys off them to let Siete out.

The crowd's turned their attention on the Eternals now, closing in on them, and he hears shouts of betrayal, of being in cahoots with the werewolves the entire time. _Their strength was too good to be true_ _,_ they're saying, _they made a deal with the_ _monsters_ _and now they have to pay._

He can't keep watching. He knows the rest can handle themselves, can only hope that Funf is safe and they're not interrogating her—Quatre's still the closest to the cage, having managed to escape everyone's attempts to grab them all, and as he readies up, Siete gives quick directions. "No casualties, no injuries. Get Funf. The Karm people are all werewolves trying to deal with the curse which is why they're always in such a hurry to leave."

Quatre blinks, once. "I'll be damned," he says, quickly, and then passes on the instructions. Siete doesn't wait to watch Song fly up into the air, to hear Quatre yelling at Sarasa to calm down—he turns back to Six, who's so angry that he snaps at Siete, teeth nearly digging into skin.

"We don't have a lot of time." He takes the chocolate pastry and waves it around before putting it back in his bag, taking out the medicine that Funf prepared. "Funf gave me this to give to you, so we gotta be fast, ‘kay?"

There's a flash of recognition in Six's eyes, and a second later, he drops onto the floor again. The blood leaking out of his leg has only gotten worse, the movement aggravating the wound, and Siete curses. Taking the velvet bag, he says, "Sorry, man, this is gonna hurt," and he presses the powder into his wound.

The effect is immediate; Six howls loudly in pain, and Siete tries to pat him on the back, trying to soothe him. "Okay, hold on, hold on," he says, taking out one of the pellets that Funf prepared for him. "Okay, these are kind of small, okay." He keeps muttering to himself as he opens Six's jaw, pushes two of them onto his tongue, and then closes it. This time, Six whines, nostrils flaring and legs kicking at the edge of the cage.

"Hey, you're fine, you're fine," he says, trying to reassure him as he holds Six's jaws shut. He turns around to check the state of the fight; most of the villagers have backed up now, forming a circle around the cage.

The moon hangs high in the sky, and Siete senses the real danger of the night, rising up from the edge of the town square. Monsters form from the shadows, creep out of hiding, and normally the town's protection group have this covered. By now, Siete and the other leaders would have sent out hunting parties of volunteer townspeople to clean up some of the monsters, but he sees all of the regulars now in the circle that surrounds them.

And then, someone screams; the monsters are pouncing on the edge of the circle, towards the people who are the most vulnerable, and everyone scatters. Underneath Siete's touch, Six's muscles grow taut, and he feels the rumble of Six's growling.

He absentmindedly puts a hand on his head and scratches, not even caring at the blood that gets under his fingernails. "Got a way to get us outta here?" Siete asks Quatre, who's standing on guard outside the cage while everyone is distracted by the commotion.

Quatre whistles as he runs out, cursing as he runs all the way to the monsters attacking. Sarasa turns around at the noise; he cocks his head towards the cage as a signal and Sarasa's grin widens, swinging her axe backwards. The shockwave knocks the top of the cage off clean, and Six bumps into Siete harder now, enough that Siete falls backwards onto the floor of the cafe. He gets thrown in the air and lands back down on Six's back, and he grabs onto his pelt so he won't fall off. "What—"

He yelps in surprise as they jump out of the open cage and breaks out into a sprint in the same direction Quatre is running in, taking out a few monsters with a few swipes of his claws. He continues running deeper into the forest, stopping every single one of the monsters that leaps out at them from the shadows until he finds a beast, larger and taller than Six is in this state. There are light arrows lodged in the dirt, some in the bodies of other monsters, and some in the shoulders of the half-dead beast.

Siete looks up instinctively, looking for Song, but all he sees is a quick streak of light back in the direction of the town, and all he can do is hope that she managed to take Funf.

"This," a voice starts, and it takes a while for Siete to realize that that's _Six,_ his low timbre amplified in this form, but unmistakably the same voice. "This is the beast that tried to kill Funf." Six chuckles, and it reverberates throughout his entire body. "Child's play."

There's a lot of things that have to be addressed here, but Siete picks the easy one as he slides off Six's back. "Didn't know you could talk."

"A werewolf already doesn't go over well with your townspeople. Imagine the reception towards one that can speak, let alone an entire clan of them."

He can practically hear the eyeroll in Six's voice as he unsheathes the sword that he managed to pack before being forced to leave the house. Siete prepares himself, but he blinks and when his eyes open again, Six has already rushed forward, sticking his claws into its chest and rips its heart out, throwing it off to the side.

Siete whistles. "What else can you do with those hands?" he says, somewhat distracted before he can stop himself. Six turns his head back and gives him a look that's markedly unimpressed, and despite the panic of the situation—or maybe because of it—it makes Siete laugh, some of the tension draining. "Sorry, paws?"

"Be quiet," he says, and Siete's grin widens. "That was only one. There are others headed towards town—"

Six turns around to head back to where they came from, and suddenly his leg buckles and he falls down onto the ground, disturbing the frost that's stuck to the grass, and Siete remembers, _he's injured, you idiot._ He kneels down next to him and takes out what's left of the healing potions that Funf prepared, with hardly any idea how to keep trying to treat his leg. "You know how bad this looks, right?"

"I've had worse injuries."

"No, I meant the part where we helped you escape and you took me into the forest far away from any witnesses." He looks at the powder in his hand and he tries to apply it again like a salve to Six's wound, and he whimpers and kicks his feet. In the distance, he can hear the townspeople's cries of confusion, and the more familiar sight of bursts of light by the perimeter of the town, arrows sailing against the night sky as monsters begin to crawl out of the forest. "How did you even get this hurt? Something about Funf, you said?"

At this, Six looks away, avoiding eye contact. "She had come too close trying to find us. I was far enough back in the group that I managed to spot her before..." He trails off, and both of them look towards the monster.

"Well. Results look good," Siete says, and then with more compassion, he pets Six's head. "I'm sure the townspeople will listen to results."

"I doubt a few dead monsters here and there by my hands is enough to convince the town if they're so determined to lock up every werewolf they see."

"I won't let them get away with acting before you even had a chance to explain yourself," Siete starts, moving his hand to scratch his back. "Or for trying to take Funf away without having her explain the situation, either. But there's still a town I have to protect.

"Now, I know it hurts, but you're going to need to follow me." He stands up and extends his hand to Six, and he stares at him for a second from where he's lying on the ground.

"You have complete and utter faith that they'd listen to you?"

"No," he says, and that's the truth. "But if they won't listen to words, they'll be forced to listen to action. I gotta appeal to the idea that everyone can be appealed to. And for your sake, I'm willing to give it a shot."

"I'm not the only one," Six says, pointedly, and if Siete is hearing him correctly, he's a little _embarrassed_. "The entire clan is."

"Well, for all their sakes too. But mostly yours." Siete winks, and despite a grumbling complaint, Six stands up, trying to take as much of the weight off of his leg as possible by leaning up against Siete. Now that the adrenaline of escaping and fighting has drained, Siete realizes just how exhausted he is—how exhausted both of them are—and he remains silent, letting Six rest before an inevitable confrontation.

At the edge of the town, an arrow lodges itself in the tree next to them, and then Song's voice yells in surprise to halt, throwing her arm out to the side. Six's ears twitch, and Siete hears metal scraping, motion stopping, and the two of them emerge from the clearing.

All of the town protection group is there, as well as many of the full moon volunteers. They all lower their weapons, and it's then that Siete realizes what they look like, covered in blood from their run-in with the other monsters, Six collapsing against him.

There's a moment of silence, and then Uno says from behind the shield he's set up for them, "Are you two alright?"

"Six could probably use some help," Siete laughs, and then Six over falls onto the cobblestone next to him as Funf exits the clinic and bursts through the crowd.


	3. Chapter 3

The night is long, but with Siete at the helm again, he explains what he can given the time pressure, and the townspeople gather together to spread out into the forest as efficiently as they can. He and Six had taken out enough of the monsters outside the perimeter that everyone else had time to regroup to head out before any more damage to the town was done.

Travelling alone, Siete finds the Karm people further in the heart of the forest when the clouds have covered the moon and snow has begun to fall, their campfires hardly a relief against the deep cold. They all hesitantly follow him back to town and into the temporary lodging he'd had Song prepare for everyone after Six had been taken to the clinic.

He stays with them for some time, making sure they stay warm and preventing curious townspeople from stumbling too far through the front door. When everyone is sufficiently settled, he heads over to the clinic and asks Nio to watch after everyone as he heads off to finish the full moon night's hunt.

* * *

The Karm people are back in Erune form when Siete and Funf arrive, a few hours after the sun has risen and Siete has had well-needed conversations with the townspeople. The ones that aren't already asleep smile in recognition. "Hey," Siete whispers, raising a hand. "I'm here to apologize on behalf of the town. I'll make them apologize themselves, but I wanted you guys to know that they're remorseful. It's that awkward part where we knew we were wrong we're having a hard time admitting it, you feel?"

"You, at least, have nothing to apologize for," one of the elders says. "You've done a lot for us already. I should apologize for stopping by so close to the full moon—but winters are hard, and we need to keep going. It will be difficult, since the beasts destroyed most of our caravans."

"You know, the offer's always open to stay in town. In fact, we insist, since you're all recovering. We're here for another reason, actually—at least, Funf and I are—not just to apologize."

At his words, he gently nudges Funf forward from where she's been hiding behind his legs. She's holding a blank journal, one Siete helped her bind herself, and she shouts, "Please, tell us more! We wanna help!"

He pats her head. "Shh, some of them are sleeping." Funf lets out a small squeak, and he smiles as he continues. "I've been talking about it with town hall, and considering all you've done for us, it's almost laughable that we _wouldn't_ accommodate you for as long as you need."

The older Erune frowns, looking unsure. "It's unwise. We're a dangerous group. The entire point of us being nomadic is so that we no longer hurt anyone."

"Know what else is dangerous? Wandering around during the worst weather we've seen in years. As a protector of this town, I'd say that protection includes the people that stop through it. We insist."

The elder looks wary, and Siete understands. When they're under a curse that turns them into the very monsters that everyone has feared for decades, it's difficult to trust. But Siete is determined—and having Funf around helps, too, because they give in eventually to her enthusiasm, the elder patting the seat next to him for Funf.

They spend a few hours in conversation, the brunt of the writing done by Siete and the elders as they speak, Funf interjecting occasionally to make notes for herself.

The curse that they find themselves under forces them to transform every full moon, and they'd always been meticulous about scheduling for this very reason. It was a miracle they'd come as far as they had without being caught before, but as the weather became less predictable, it became more of an ordeal to make sure that everything was properly in place for their travels.

"We couldn't have picked a better town to have this happen," one of the elders smiles, watching Funf scribble in the margins. "I don't believe most towns would be as accommodating."

There's no way for them to break the curse that they know of, but Funf is determined that she'll know a way to help one day, and by the end of their conversation, they've got more information about each other, the nervousness draining from their frames.

He takes Funf's hand, but as they exit, a voice calls out to him. He looks over his shoulder, and the Erune from the stall next to Six's is looking at Siete, the glitter of amusement unmistakable in her eyes past the tiredness. "How's Six doing?"

"We haven't checked up on him yet," he says, scratching at his cheek, thrown off-guard by how easily she'd managed to read him. "He's still at the clinic, we'll drop by soon." When he looks down at Funf, she's looking down at her feet, kicking at nothing.

"He won't wanna see me." She says it like she's ashamed of herself. "I did something bad to him."

"He already told me what happened," Siete says. "He's worried about you is all. Shouldn't we go check up on him and tell him you're okay?"

She pouts and nods hesitantly, holding his hand tighter and letting him take her back to the clinic. A thin layer of snow has covered the cobblestone outside, and the snow continues to fall as Funf huddles her coat closer around her. At the clinic, Siete stops to make sure the other townspeople are okay, before trying to discreetly ask a nurse where Six is staying.

She points him upstairs, and outside one of the rooms, Esser is guarding the door, falling asleep. He nudges her in the shoulder gently, and she tries not to yawn as she attempts to grasp onto wakefulness again.

"What are you doing here?" he asks.

"Six was the last of the people I needed to help check up on," Esser says, not entirely awake. She unsuccessfully hides her yawn, and then says, sheepishly, "It's been a long night."

"It has. Quatre might already be home," he says, putting a hand on her shoulder. "You're free for now."

Nodding, she stands and stretches, before heading downstairs.

He's worried about Six—he'd pushed himself a lot last night, after all, and being out in the cold with an injury and the emotional stress he'd gone through must have taken its toll on him. He should really let Six rest, but a selfish part of him can't stop himself from knocking on the door, announcing his and Funf's presence.

There's a mumble from the other side that he decides to take as agreement. He opens the door slowly and steps in, but Funf is close behind him, hiding behind his legs.

She sniffles, and Six turns over in the bed—at least, he turns over as much as he can, with his leg in a cast and suspended. He's bare-faced and looks absolutely lost at the sound of Funf's despair, and he looks up at Siete with panic clear in his features, before he stammers, "Funf?"

"I'm sorry!" she cries, and then she runs and climbs up onto the bed and hugs him, and Six quickly maneuvers to give her room, one of his arms awkwardly coming around her. "If I didn't go out by myself—"

"It's... okay," he says, and looks up at Siete, pleading for help. Siete bites back a smile and walks to the bed, taking a chair and putting it beside him, and rubs Funf's back.

"It was all my fault," she says.

Gently—or as gently as Six can manage, his voice coming out gruff—he says, "It was nothing. Do you have injuries?"

"No, 'cause of you!"

"Then there's no need to worry," he says, and a small smile curves his lips upwards. It lights up his entire face, like daybreak through storm clouds, and Siete finds himself smiling in return.

"Let Six rest," Siete says to her after the moment's passed, "his leg's in a cast. He can't move around too much." Funf sits up and wipes her tears. She crawls off the bed and back into Siete's lap, never taking her eyes off Six. Hesitantly, Six reaches out to pat her on the head, and she looks absolutely delighted by it, her mood changing so quickly that Six pauses the motion and looks back up at Siete, again at a loss.

It makes him burst out into laughter, and it turns into a yawn. Siete hadn't slept at all, essentially up all night placating the rest of the villagers and making negotiations for the housing of the Karm Erunes; he hadn't had a chance to check up on Six at all, and now that he does, he's falling asleep like an idiot.

"You should rest as well," Six mumbles, and Funf takes it as an invitation to crawl back into his bed and curl up.

Siete's never seen anyone look so lost at such open displays of affection, and he bites his lip as he tries to bite back a smile. "Just let it happen," he says, amusement still managing to leak out through the syllables of his words.

Six's face is so open, and it's so easy to read every emotion that comes across it. It might be why he wears the mask to begin with, Siete speculates as Six tries to frown and look away. Siete should leave the room and go home, take Funf and visit when they wake later, but he stays instead, trying to get more comfortable. He crosses his arms and under the shifting of his clothes, he hears Funf's breathing steady out, and then Six mumbling something suspiciously along the lines of _thank you_.

Is he imagining things? "For what?" he asks, in case he isn't. Slowly, Six turns around to give him an incredulous look. He's very much awake, the blood rushing to his face and colouring his cheeks a light red an excellent indicator of life. Siete shrugs. "Like, all the werewolf stuff?"

"Incredible," Six says under his breath and turns to curl away from him again.

"If it _is_ about the werewolf stuff, Funf and I talked to the rest of the Karm people. They told us some things about the nature of transformation, how it affects your bodies. It's been a real hellish ride for you guys."

Six snorts lightly. "Excellent observation."

"I wanna help. And I wanna start by apologizing." He watches Six's figure for a few seconds, getting his next words ready. "I might not have been out there actively hunting you—or believing in your existences, really—but I should have acted sooner when I found out. Funf feels bad about not having told me earlier, either. Said she wanted to protect your identities."

"You couldn't have done anything," Six says, softly, still facing away. "We took the greatest precautions to make sure we were never discovered, and in the end, we were felled by weather."

"It's not such a bad thing, I think."

"Lycanthropy? To most, it's a disease at best and punishable by death at worst."

"I'm not most, and I just gotta say, it worked well in your favour. Very attractive shows of strength."

"Most of that night was spent with a broken leg."

"I could _feel_ it, though. Can't tell whether it was the big strong wolf thing or the fact that it was just you that got me so hot under the collar." He grins when Six scoffs at him, and it softens when Six turns over slowly again to look at him, pink dusting against his cheeks.

"You have no sense of proper timing."

"No better timing than this, baby. You in bed, me by your side, what's more romantic?"

Opening his mouth, Six averts his eyes. "...If this is your idea of romance, I'm not so sure I should accept."

Siete looks at him for a few seconds. "Wait, what?" Well, he was _joking,_ to lighten the mood, but— _what?_

The silence between them stretches on, and then Six grumbles out, "Forget it." He looks like he wants to turn over again, but Funf is now fully asleep, curled against his side. He settles on pulling the blanket around half of his face instead.

"Forgotten." Siete leans back in his chair and chuckles, a yawn rising on the tail end of it. "Who are you again?"

"Shut it."

"Sorry, I've got amnesia, and I think this is my bed, so either you get out or I get in."

"Are you kidding me?" Six says, underneath his blankets.

"Wait, wait, try this one—I've got amnesia and the only way to cure me is if you give me a kiss."

"I changed my mind," Six growls. "I'd prefer you ask me about Karm's history now."

It takes a moment for Siete to recall their conversation from dinner a few months ago, and when he finally does, he laughs. At the sound, Six turns back around to face him. He moves, so slightly that Siete might be imagining it, and his red face is scrunched in embarrassment and determination. Closing his eyes and then staying still, Siete realizes he can't move any closer because of Funf, so he decides to put Six out of his misery and close the gap between them himself, pressing their lips together.

The kiss is barely a kiss; the angle feels awkward, and Siete is hovering halfway in between the bed and over his chair, and Six freezes when their lips first make contact as if he still weren't expecting it. But it's perfect all the same, and when they break apart, Siete keeps their foreheads together for a few more moments, smiling against his lips.

With an unsure frown, Six eventually mumbles, "...Thank you." In the blink of an eye, he's pulled back, facing away with as much of the blanket over his head as he can. "Now let me sleep," he grumbles into the sheets. "It's been a long night."

Siete sits back down, no longer bothering to hide his smile. "Can I stay?"

"I suppose you can," he says, in a tone that tells Siete that he doesn't mind as much as he wishes he would. "Will you sleep in that chair?"

"Well, Funf's taken the best spot in the house already, so yeah, I guess."

Six huffs and the sound warms Siete's heart, and even though his back already screaming at him that he'll be sore when he wakes up, he falls asleep with no worries.

When Siete wakes, it's to a finger poking him in the cheek; it's one of Funf's preferred methods of waking him up, so he's already prepared by the time he opens his eyes sleepily and comes face to face with her fanged smile.

"The mayor's downstairs," she says, from edge of the bed. From where he's sitting in the chair, Siete half-asleep sticks an arm out for Funf to steady herself. "With people. They just wanna talk, I think they said. But they wanna see Six 'n' talk to him."

Yawning, he turns his head to Six. "How you feelin'?"

Six is sound asleep, softly snoring under his breath. His head is turned towards Siete, his normal frown gone, replaced with a peaceful look. His ears are twitching in his sleep, and Siete resists the urge to play with them.

Turning back to Funf, he says, "That answers that, I guess. I'd say let him sleep. I'll come downstairs, though." He sighs and stands up, wincing when he rolls his neck and feels the sting from his awkward sleeping position.

Funf yawns and lays down onto the bed, curling the blanket around her too. "I'll stay. I don't want Six to be lonely."

"I think he'd appreciate that," Siete chuckles, patting her on the head. "Get some good sleep, ‘kay?"

"O _kay,_ g'night, Siete."

"Nighty night, Funf." He walks out of the bedroom and stretches, going to the bathroom to wash the sleep from his face before heading downstairs to talk to everyone else. It's already evening, the entire day having passed them by, and the fluorescent light of the bathroom stings his eyes as it flickers to life, shadows flashing across his face.

He looks absolutely awful, but there's a look on his face that's contented when, by all means, it shouldn't be; he got a bad night's sleep, and there's social reparations to be made with a community that's done nothing but help them even when they were being doubted, but above all, Siete feels light. He feels ready.

When he arrives downstairs, some of the Karm elders are already downstairs, and other community members from the town are there; when Siete walks down, they shift awkwardly, and Siete tries to break the ice. "Sure is a party here tonight."

One of the stronger members of the community that often leads hunts—the one that caught Six in the first place—stands up and faces all of the Erunes. "We found the bodies of all the beasts, well before the perimeter of the town. Claw and bite marks. I'd like to formally apologize, on behalf of the actions of all the citizens." He gets down on one knee and sets his spear perpendicular to the ground, and the other members do the same.

The mayor bows as well. "We jumped to conclusions and imprisoned one of your kind and hurt him. We can only ask for forgiveness and how to proceed."

* * *

That evening, with Funf's journal in his hand, Siete works as their mediator. The Karm people are more than relieved that things ended positively, and while they have no plans to make their lodging permanent, they eventually decided to spend at least full moons simply lodging in this town—not necessarily with their wares, but until the day of their curse passes them.

Other members from the Karm clan decide they want to keep travelling despite the full moons, and others yet decide to stay permanently in the town, helping existing stores and starting their own new ones alongside other townspeople that have good rapport with them, after so many years of trading.

And Six—

A week later, when he's recovered, he moves to pack up the rest of their wares. He still sleeps in his own tent, hugs the back of the group and stands alone even when everyone is chatting among themselves happily, but he doesn't seem as bothered by it as he used to.

"You sure you don't wanna stay?" Siete asks, even though he already knows Six's answer. Funf is wishing some of the other Erunes farewell, leaving the two of them with time to be alone with each other for a few minutes.

"I'm not sure," Six says, full mask on, bags slung over his back. "But I will return. I... would like to return."

"Leave me with something nice, then, so I can think of you while waiting for you to come back."

He says it as a joke, but Six slowly lifts his mask until it's off his face completely and tilts his head up, trying to kiss Siete on the lips and missing, getting his chin instead. His face immediately goes red and he tries to cover it up again, but Siete laughs, and leans down to meet him halfway.

"Yeah," he says, smiling against Six's lips. "That'll do it."

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> thanks to jack who always makes sure i'm thinking about werewolves and also ruined my life back in june with  
>  **[13:13] bastard:** (shuffling my documents into a neat stack) werewolf+single parent au wombo combo  
>  as well as all the friends that were there for me through the excruciating process of writing and editing, as always. i've really been sitting on this since june. please just take it
> 
> happy belated halloween!  
> title taken from the song of the same name


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